A greenhouse on Mars? Scientists propose plant experiment for next rover.

Researchers have proposed putting a plant-growth experiment on NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet in 2021.

Plant life may touch down on Mars in 2021.

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Researchers have proposed putting a plant-growth experiment on NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020 and land on the Red Planet in early 2021. The investigation, known as the Mars Plant Experiment (MPX), could help lay the foundation for thecolonization of Mars, its designers say.

"In order to do a long-term, sustainable base on Mars, you would want to be able to establish that plants can at least grow on Mars," MPX deputy principal investigator Heather Smith, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, said April 24 at the Humans 2 Mars conference in Washington, D.C. "This would be the first step in that we just send the seeds there and watch them grow." [The Boldest Mars Missions in History]

The MPX team led by fellow Ames scientist Chris McKay isn't suggesting that the2020 Mars rovershould play gardener, digging a hole with its robotic arm and planting seeds in the Red Planet's dirt. Rather, the experiment would be entirely self-contained, eliminating the chance that Earth life could escape and perhaps get a foothold on Mars.

MPX would employ a clear "CubeSat" box the case for a cheap and tiny satellite which would be affixed to the exterior of the 2020 rover. This box would hold Earth air and about 200 seeds ofArabidopsis, a small flowering plant that's commonly used in scientific research.

The seeds would receive water when the rover touched down on Mars, and would then be allowed to grow for two weeks or so.

"In 15 days, we'll have a little greenhouse on Mars," Smith said.

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A greenhouse on Mars? Scientists propose plant experiment for next rover.